


Well Practiced

by Skyler10



Series: Mirrors [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Engagement, F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-06 22:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3151523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor practices proposing in front of a floor-length mirror, but doesn't hear Rose come in with groceries…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well Practiced

**Author's Note:**

> References another one-shot of mine, “The Doctor Discovers Pinterest," but not necessary to read that one first.

Tonight was the night. He was finally going to do it. He was certain he’d bought the right ring (thanks to an accidental look at her Pinterest board). She would be home any minute to get ready. He’d only told her they were going to that fancy restaurant on 3rd St. She had mentioned it looked romantic. Hinted that their co-workers went on fancy dates there. She had casually pointed out a dress she loved while shopping. She had grown a bit suspicious when he made her try it on instead of saying “whatever you like, love” and playing with his newly improved sonic, but he was fairly certain that his mission remained top secret. 

 

Now in their room, he laid out the dress next to his nicest suit. The two outfits made a good pair, if one had an eye for such things, which the Doctor did not. He did know, however, that he couldn’t wait to see Rose dressed up, blushing in that way that told him she felt as beautiful as she was. He wanted to make her feel radiant. Tell her how much he adored her. Convince her once more of his commitment.

 

He inhaled sharply, the weight of the evening landing on him as he pictured her face. 

 

“C’mon, Doctor,” he reassured himself. “You can do this. Easy. It’s Rose. You can tell her anything.” He loosened his shoulders, shook out his hands and bounced on the balls of his feet. He would know when the time came exactly how to say it, he was sure of it. They’d been through so much…

 

Perhaps that would be how to start. He couldn’t mention a lot of specifics as they had learned the hard way the paparazzi were never too far away from young heiresses and their mysterious love interests. He blanched at the memory of the headline: “Who is Rose Tyler’s Boy Toy? Vitex princess boasts of alien encounters! More inside!” 

 

Yes, he could keep his proposal free of anything that would arouse suspicion. The media would be interested enough as it was. One more thing to remember in case his gob ran off with him. Which did tend to happen. 

 

On second thought, best rehearse these things. Rassilion knows what he was liable to say if he left it up to spontaneity. 

 

He retrieved the ring box from his desk drawer. He’d hidden it inside an ordinary puzzle box, knowing that while Rose was clever enough to solve it if she put her mind to it, she would only dismiss it as one of his geeky knickknacks if she stumbled across it. 

 

He returned to the bedroom and closed the door partway. He wanted to be able to hear her come in, but needed time to hide the ring before she saw him. 

 

“Ok, this is it,” he said aloud. Out of all the side effects of a solitary life, talking to himself was the last to go. “Rose. I saw your web page pin board... thing. No, best not mention that. Rose. D’you want to? We don’t have to, but I thought you might. Oh, just do it, you coward!” He let out a huff of frustration and nervous energy. “RoseTylerwillyou… No, no, slow down. Do it right.”

 

He got down on one knee, but his sock slipped and he grabbed for the closest thing: a floor lamp. The lamp toppled to the ground with a crash, which masked the sound of Rose struggling to open the front door with an arm full of groceries and dropping her keys in the decorative bowl in the entryway. He righted the unbroken but now-dented lamp with a loud Gallifreyan curse and didn’t hear Rose call his name. She waited for a response but only heard mumbling about how at least there was no mess to clean up this time. She decided from his tone that he was uninjured and that sneaking up on him might improve his mood. 

 

Something made her pause in the doorway, however, peeking in through the crack he’d left open. He was holding something in his hand and staring at the full-length mirror, having collected himself in the amount of time it took her to tip-toe down the hallway to the bedroom door. 

 

He was getting down on one knee. 

 

Rose swallowed a lump in her throat as he let out a shaky breath and skipped right to the good part: 

 

“Rose Marion Tyler, will you marry me?”

 

Her hands flew to her mouth and she dropped the bag of groceries in her arms with a thud, forgetting she was even holding them. At the sound, his gaze shot up to catch her reflection. Helpless, his mouth moved like a fish, unable to explain this one away. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she didn’t notice. All she knew was that she had to get to him. She threw open the door. At the same instant, he stood and whipped around as she ran into his arms. 

 

"Yes," she whispered in his ear before their lips met. 

 

"I had a plan, you know. That was supposed to be much more romantic," he explained when they broke for air. "Flowers, fancy restaurant, a whole lead-in speech..."

 

"A speech, huh? No shock there." She beamed up at him. 

 

"It was going to be quite elegant."

 

"We could still do all that, you know."

 

"But it won't be a surprise." He pouted. 

 

"Not for me. But we can put on a good show and have a night of it. You're marrying an heiress, Doctor. We can still have some fun with the press. The way I see it, if you can’t shut ‘em up, give ‘em something to say." 

 

"You are bad." He returned her mischievous grin. 

 

"You love it."

 

"I love you." As he said it, the teasing faded and the gravity of the moment set in. 

 

The lump in Rose's throat returned and she realized that she was crying earlier. 

 

"I'm glad it happened like this,” she said. “Just the two of us. We can still have every bit of the romantic evening you planned, even get you to ask me properly.” Her brief teasing switched back into sincerity. "But right now I want you all to myself."

 

"You have me. Forever, Rose." 

 

At his words, her tears could no longer be held back and spilled down her cheeks. 

 

"I love you," she finally returned. The small words sounded so inadequate to her, but like the sweetest poetry to the ears of her lover, though he heard them at least once a day. 

 

"So now that you have me, as you say, 'all to yourself'" he asked with a suggestive eyebrow raise to lighten the mood. "What are you going to do with me?" 

 

"Ice cream!" Her eyes widened and she slipped from his embrace. 

 

"What?" 

 

"I dropped the banana ice cream you wanted and it's still in the hallway."

 

"Banana ice cream? You are a fine catch indeed, Rose Tyler."

 

"Quite right." She winked. "But you'll have to catch me first."

 

She got a head start as he processed the meaning of her pun and she raced off to the kitchen, grabbing the fallen grocery bag on the way.

 

She dropped the bag on the counter just as he entered the room. He wrapped his arms around her from behind while she took the food out of the bag. He kissed her neck and she squirmed and giggled. 

 

"Do you want this ice cream in its intended state or a sticky puddle?" she reprimanded. 

 

"Caught you." 

 

She turned and kissed him fully in reward, but cut it short to push past him to the freezer. 

 

“I have a surprise for you,” he confessed, leaning up against the counter. She returned to him, all groceries safely deposited in their proper places. 

 

“Let me guess. Is it… a ring?” 

 

“Nope. Well, yes, but not yet. I had to keep one surprise for the real proposal. This surprise comes first. You may have seen it lying on our bed.” 

 

The pieces suddenly fell into place. Fancy dinner. Trying on the dress last weekend but discouraging her from buying it right then. 

 

She just shook her head at how her alien in a flying blue box had turned into this Prince Charming. 

 

“C’mon! Dinner reservation in a half an hour!” He bounced up from the counter, shattering her wonder and nearly knocking her over in enthusiasm. “Time to get ready for an engagement worthy of those old gossip columns. Keep ‘em busy for days, we will.” 

 

“Weeks if we play our cards right. We could even go away for a while to celebrate. Bet you three say we’ve eloped.”

 

“At least two will say we’re pregnant and trying to rush in a wedding first,” he pointed out, referencing past rumors when she wore anything a little too baggy. 

 

“And another will say it’s all a conspiracy or PR stunt.” She laughed as he rolled his eyes. 

 

“Really Rose, the papers here are the most ridiculous…” 

 

She silenced him with a light hand against his chest, fiddling with his tie. 

 

“You don’t want to… right?” she asked timidly. 

 

“What?” His eyes widened, remembering his first bet. “Well. S-s-sure, yeah. Someday, if-if you want…You’re not… are you?”

 

She caught the misunderstanding and clarified her question with a giggle at his sudden fear. 

 

“No! No, I meant eloping. It’s never gonna happen in my family, you know. Mum would be furious. And Tony’s already jealous of a friend who got to be a ring bearer last month.” 

 

“Oh! Yeah, I assumed. Jackie at the helm.” 

 

“Well, not completely. It’s our wedding after all.”

 

“Rose! Half an hour until our reservations,” the Doctor scolded her for distracting them. “I lose track of time when I’m with you, which really is saying something.” 

 

Rose laughed at her poor muddled fiancé and winked as she passed him, on her way to the dress she had severally regretted not buying for several days, now set out on the bed. 

 

\---------

 

The moment is here: He’s down on one knee. Heads turn at the motion and soon every eye in the room is on them. Even though she already knows what’s coming and he already has her answer, her stomach swoops and her hands tremble in her lap. 

 

“Rose. You said once you’d stay with me forever. In our forever – however long that may be – I promise to love you more each moment. You’ve made me a better man in every way and I want to spend the rest of our lives being the best man I can be for you, making you smile” – Here she realized that she was both grinning like a fool and crying once more. In front of an entire room of people staring at her. Lovely. But she remembered she didn’t care as he continued softly, “Letting you know how much I adore you, my pink-and-yellow girl.” 

 

He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb and let his hand fall to hers, still tightly clasped in her lap to keep them from visibly shaking.

 

“Rose Marion Tyler, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

 

He pulled out a little velvet box and opened the top to reveal the perfect ring. 

 

It was all so beautiful she almost forgot she still needed to answer him again. It was just a beat too long as they communicated solely though lovers’ eyes, too intimate to be seen by those watching. The entire restaurant fell silent, waiting for her reaction. 

 

“Y-yes. Yes, my love,” she finally got out loud enough to appease her audience. The entire room erupted in applause (and a sigh of relief), completely missing Rose’s whisper into the Doctor’s ear as he slid the ring onto her finger that “That’ll do” and him laughing into her hair that it’d better. But everyone saw their kiss. And not just everyone in the restaurant. Thanks to camera phones, it was on the front page of all the local tabloids the next day. 

 

Thus, they were awakened much earlier than they would have liked by the phone ringing, followed by Jackie Tyler screeching “Why didn’t you tell your own mum before the bloody papers?!” Mixed with “My baby girl getting married!” and “Oh that Doctor!” 

 

But wrapped in her fiancé’s arms and giggling with him about their late-night predictions of Jackie’s reactions coming true, Rose was in a too blissful state to be bothered by her mum’s offense that she wasn’t the first to know. 

 

“Thanks, Mum. Love you too. See you for tea.” And Rose hung up the phone with Jackie still flustered and squawking. Rose set the phone down on the nightstand and turned to “that Doctor.”

 

“She said congratulations and she’s very happy for us,” Rose informed him seriously, knowing he heard the entire conversation. The two laughed again and burrowed down in the covers. 

 

“It wasn’t a complete surprise you know. I did ask them.”

 

Rose pushed up to read his expression. “Ask them?”

 

“Not permission!” he clarified, concerned she would get the wrong idea. “For their… blessing. I’m very old, you know. Tradition and all that. Thought you might, I don’t know.” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair, wondering if he’d just mucked up for the first time as an engaged man not yet 24 hours into the job. 

 

“You talked to my mum and dad?” 

 

“Yes? Was that bad?”

 

He realized she was looking down at him with more awe and love than if he’d just single-handedly saved the world.

 

“You, who have lived 900 years with all of time and space at your command, care about my family enough to make sure they were ok with this. Even though you knew, you still respected them enough to ask them.” 

 

“Yep,” he answered honestly, still afraid of saying something that might not be met with so much appreciation. His fingers no longer able to resist, he reached up and ran a hand through the golden hair hanging above him. She took that as answer enough and cuddled back down in his embrace. 

 

“I love you, Doctor.”

 

“Love you, Rose.”

 

After a few minutes of silence, the Doctor hummed happily. 

 

“What?” 

 

“I just remembered.” He grinned and pecked a kiss to her cheek. “We have banana ice cream in the freezer.”


End file.
